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I didn’t take this from my old reports, it’s going to be very new as I just finished this book yesterday. This book needs a shoutout! Just like how it’s stated in the back cover, this is great for parents, teachers, day care or homeschooling practitioners and government. In general, those who have interest in education just like me!

It tells about the education system in Japan, specifically in daycare, preschool-kindergarten, and elementary school. Coming from the experience of Indonesian mothers who live in Japan, this is quite personal, which makes this even more enjoyable.

cr: Kalengkentang

I’ve always been a fan of Japan Culture (as you can see here). And when I read this book, actually I’m already familiar to how the schools are. The rough pictures from their entertainment products; movies, dramas, and animation. So, this book gives a deeper insight to my knowledge. The information here are pretty detailed and systematic. From the kinds of formal education for children in Japan to the all activities they do at school. Pictures also provided as an examples to make it clearer. There is even the description of how is teacher as a profession perceived in Japan. Turns out, teacher is a prestigious job which many people in Japan want to be. Japan takes children as a very precious being who would be the future of Japan so education is number one priority. That’s why, people who dedicate their time and effort to educate them will be highly respected.

‘Japan really think of education seriously, the system is very well thought of’. This thought kept coming when I read this book. Because, every aspects needed to make children learn and become a proper human-being is taken care of. They emphasize the importance of learning-by-doing and the development of characters not study for the sake of tests only. And what makes me really envious of them is the government plays a huge role in this. All the public schools there could possibly have the same standard as some of private schools in Indonesia. From the facilities to the curriculum. So, Japan citizen prefer to put their kids in public school with no worries. Since private school is also much more expensive.

There are many lessons we can take even for us, adults. The principles thought there such as to respect people (greet people, queuing), be responsible (of their own trashes and own belongings), be productive (many activities at school, even when in summer breaks schools encourage students and family to do something together), be knowledgeable (reading is a habit), and to converse traditional culture. Imagine all this are thought at school and not only that but the society is embracing the same values as well. In this book, the authors also give example on how to apply the principles to your children. Surely not everything can be easily applied, since there is difference in culture and habit. As much as we want our children to learn and adapt the principles, the society may have different values. So, it wouldn’t be as easy. The authors itself told how hard it is to keep the values learned from Japan’s school once their children come back to Indonesia.

Besides the lessons learned, it actually inspired me to build a school using the same system. As well made me wonder is there any school in Indonesia who has applied this system? (I’m hoping there is, lol). All in all, I like this book and it’s truly a suitable book for those mentioned above. If the government can’t be relied on, let’s just do it from ourselves.